Cheapest way to connect PC to CRT via component?

[Brad251]

I am in the U.S. and my goal is to connect my PC running Windows 7 to my Sony Trinitron CRT via component cable. I want to be able to play NES/Genesis/SNES and Mame/Neo-Geo arcade games in their native resolutions on my CRT. I have an AMD Radeon HD 7750 video card with an HDMI and DVI-I output. My card came with a DVI-I to VGA adapter. Ultimately I want to hear your suggestions for what would be the cheapest way to go about doing this and get a decent picture on the CRT. I am not trying to spend a fortune.

I will share with you what I was thinking of doing. From what I can tell, my HD 7750 video card will work with CRT Emudriver 2.0. I was thinking of connecting my VGA adapter to my DVI-I input on my PC and then connecting a VGA cable to a VGA-to-component transcoder. I would then run a component cable from the transcoder to my CRT component input and adjust resolutions with CRT Emudriver. This is the transcoder I was looking at http://www.ramelectronics.net/9a60.aspx. The 9A60 transcoder has been discontinued by the manufacturer but it is apparently in stock from this retailer.

[bobrocks95]

I'm pretty sure you can get a 9A60 for much cheaper if you're willing to watch ebay and wait.

I have a similar setup with an old AMD (well, ATi) card on a consumer CRT with CRT Emudriver and GroovyMAME, but instead of a transcoder I use an S-Video output the card has. Works very well, but took me forever to finally get it working and configured.

I don't see anything about a CRT Emudriver 2.0 though?
EDIT: Nevermind, I see it's a beta release, presumably for newer cards. I run TinyXP with an old card on the rig I was talking about, so I guess it's not a big concern to me.

[BazookaBen]

Yeah, if CRT Emudriver works with your card, then all you need at that stage is something like the 9A60 to transcode RGB to YPbPr. I've also used the 9A60 with a genesis, SNES, and Saturn all without issue.

One thing about 240p in Windows 10 is that it's hard to use some programs and change certain settings, since the OS was never designed for a resolution that low. You'll figure how to work around it though though. Might be handy to have a spare computer monitor if you ever need to change to a higher resolution for something.

I have a similar setup with an old AMD (well, ATi) card on a consumer CRT with CRT Emudriver and GroovyMAME, but instead of a transcoder I use an S-Video output the card has. Works very well, but took me forever to finally get it working and configured.

Wow, were you actually able to get 240p instead of 480i from the s-video output on your graphics card? I've never tried it before, I know they default to 480i.

[Brad251]

One thing about 240p in Windows 10 is that it's hard to use some programs and change certain settings, since the OS was never designed for a resolution that low. You'll figure how to work around it though though. Might be handy to have a spare computer monitor if you ever need to change to a higher resolution for something.

Could I use my HDTV as a spare monitor by connecting to it through HDMI when setting all this up if I need to switch to a higher resolution?

[BazookaBen]

Sure. There are all sorts of funky issues that can pop up though. You'll just have to work your way through it when they arise.

There are people with more experience with this than me. I've never installed CRT Emudriver, I've just messed around with low resolutions in Custom Resolution Utility.

[Brad251]

I wanted to add that Audio Authority is actually still making the vga to component transcoder I listed. The one they still make is is basically the same model with a few small features added but still does exactly the same thing. The old model is the 9A60 and the new model is the 9A60A. I can't wait to get this thing. To be able to play retro games from my PC in their native resolutions on a CRT TV is awesome and if you already have a PC, this solution is not even that expensive.

This is the link to the transcoder, https://www.audioauthority.com/product_details/9A60A.